The final and general session of the Holy Synod, held this morning (Thursday, June 6th, 2016) and headed by his holiness the Pope resulted in a bundle of decisions and recommendations and what follows is the text of the decisions:

First, the Holy Synod decisions:

1. Election H.G. Bishop Rafael as Secretary of the Holy Synod and the election of the secretariat of the Synod:

- H.G. Bishop Thomas of Quseya and Mir

- H.G. Bishop Youssef of the Southern USA

- Bishop Apollo of South Sinai

This decision is for another three years

2. The decisions concerning the recognition of the monasteries [and convents]:

- Recognition of St. Demiana and Anba Moises convent in the Diocese of Balyana

- Recognition of St. Mary & St. Demiana Convent, Dawsonville, Atlanta, Georgia in the Diocese of the Southern USA

- Recognition of the Great Abba Moussa the Strong monastery in Al Alamein

Second, the Holy Synod Committees Recommendations:

1. Family Committee Recommendations:

- Confirm with all counseling centers in the See (keraza) to unify an approved curriculum for pre-marital counseling and establish centers that are approved by the church that will issue the certificates to this course which will be mandatory July 2017

2- The Care & Service Committee Recommendations:

- Churches must commit to hiring 5% of disabled (handicapped) individuals in church labors and projects as much as possible

3- The Rites Committee Recommendations:

- The inclusion of the appearance of the Virgin Mary in Edfu of the Diocese of Aswan in 1982 among the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the Coptic Church

- The sanctity, honor, and reverence of the liturgical prayers are found when they are practiced in their original rite. Therefore, the committee commands to keep decency in practice without using sculptures nor statues nor such objects

- The establishment of a school for deacons in each diocese. It was also proposed that the minimum age for ordaining a chanter (psaltos) be 6 years old and each deacon must be ordained by the bishop of the diocese

- We ought not to add or delete any phrases (terms/words) to the rite of the divine Liturgy without the approval of the Holy Synod

- Since the liturgical vestments differentiates between the ranks and fits each of their duty, the priest (presbyter and hegumen) wears the “talasaana” and not a crown (mitre), also a “bornos” (cope/mantle) without “harmala” or “qosla”. The crown is for the bishop to wear and the “bornos” with a “qosla” which developed in the “harmala”

I must say that it is with great gratitude that you took the time to translate these. Thank you! I think the Holy Synod should undergo a project in which these decrees be translated at all times for the Coptic Churches abroad, in the same way as they take translating the Papal encyclicals seriously.

@minasoliman...I think all of this is in the works. The accomplishment actually is the fact that it's out there in arabic. No one used to get these written decisions anywhere but recently the church has been using facebook to make announcements and that is a great idea to spread trusted news.

Oops I didn't mean the priests were at fault. But definitely fault of the Coptic vestment industry which has been hijacked by greed in the last 30 years. They just make whatever they want, at minimal cost and then you have no choice but to buy it